The bedroom of the Ambassador Suite at the Waldorf Astoria. Courtesy The Waldorf Astoria
The bedroom of the Ambassador Suite at the Waldorf Astoria. Courtesy The Waldorf Astoria

Extravagance at the Waldorf Astoria in Berlin



Ascending elegantly over the U-bahn station Zoologischer Garten, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and the Berlin Zoo – where the hotel sponsors a giraffe – the Waldorf Astoria occupies the first to fifteenth and thirty-first floors of the 118-metre Zoofenster tower. From the Tegel airport bus it is easy to find, even by accident.

You are welcomed by the hotel’s Wall of Fame, a gilded, mirror-panelled wall covered in the John Hancocks of the itinerant celebrities – including Aerosmith and the centre-right femme fatale Carla Bruni-Sarkozy – who have made the Astoria their temporary homes.

Check-in is quick, but, having failed to announce an arrival time in advance, I find the room is not ready. The front-of-house manager greets me warmly. We’ll clean quickly, I’m promised. They do.

Our room is hewn from marble, it seems. The bath is enormous, complemented by a shower-turned-wetroom, and a television inlaid into the mirror. I fantasise about being sufficiently busy to need to watch BBC News while I wash. The bathroom’s centrepiece is an illuminated marble carving, inspired by peacock plumes – a recurring design motif in the hotel.

The window, on the fourteenth floor, boasts absurdly beautiful views of Berlin: the Tiergarten, a mass of forest and foliage in Berlin’s Mitte – literally, Middle – district.

The bed is large and welcoming. After my sleepless night-time flight from Abu Dhabi, collapsing into it rises to the top of my list of things to do. I succumb; I am welcomed.

The restaurants are superlative. Breakfast is a smorgasbord of smoked meats and cheeses, and dinner is a fit subject for an ode. The (Fritz) Lang Bar serves live jazz and sophisticated fare in glorious 1930s art deco saloon, while the Romanisches Cafe, built on a famous site for poets and artists levelled by the RAF one night in 1943, serves as an elegant spot for reclining and reading, even if it no longer a home to Weimar-era Bohemians.

The hotel boasts a spa with treatments ranging from the decadent to the science-fictional, and a 15th-floor library offers spectacular views.

The one downside: Wi-Fi costs €12 per day. Although, in fairness, the TV also has internet.

Q&A: Les Solistes by Pierre Gagnaire

Describe the scene

Les Solistes’ decor is inauspicious – tasteful modernism, but nothing radical – though its reputation is daunting. Pierre Gagnaire, the winner of three Michelin stars, added this restaurant to his portfolio last year. Mr Gagnaire also runs Reflets in Dubai’s Festival City InterCon.

And what of the food?

For €150, you are served a six-course meal. Good food should make one thoughtful – or so I have insisted to bemused companions.

What did you have to eat?

Many dishes. Tiny, sophisticated amuse bouches that packed complex flavours into miniature morsels. Radish in goat’s cheese. Curried butter with smoked salt, paired with a selection of imported breads. Borscht with new potato ice cream, cubes of horseradish and cucumber. Watermelon summer salad with apricot sorbet and olive film. A tandoori pastry stick in cauliflower cream. Pigeon breast, leg of pigeon, and praline of pigeon heart and liver. Sea bass with a tomato salad made from three tomato varieties plus tomato foam. A breaded lobster meatball in lobster mayonnaise. The flavours were wonderfully precise. Service was superlative – the waiters told stories of the dishes’ invariably colourful and complex histories.

And dessert?

It was not a single dish, but many. A patter of pettit fours, followed by apricot and violet coulis with cracked cocoa beans. Raspberry tart with basil sorbet. Ice cream with a biscuit ring and yellow and green peppers. (By this time I was close to tears.) Coffee-flavoured tiers of mascapone and meringue tiers. And chocolate parfait. Espresso to finish.

abouyamourn@thenational.ae

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Racecard

6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes (PA) Group 3 Dh175,000 (Dirt) 1,900m

7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m

7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m

8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,200m

8.50pm: Dubai Creek Mile (TB) Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,600m

9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m

The National selections

6.30pm: Chaddad

7.05pm: Down On Da Bayou

7.40pm: Mass Media

8.15pm: Rafal

8.50pm: Yulong Warrior

9.25pm: Chiefdom

T20 World Cup Qualifier

October 18 – November 2

Opening fixtures

Friday, October 18

ICC Academy: 10am, Scotland v Singapore, 2.10pm, Netherlands v Kenya

Zayed Cricket Stadium: 2.10pm, Hong Kong v Ireland, 7.30pm, Oman v UAE

UAE squad

Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Darius D’Silva, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Junaid Siddique, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Waheed Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Zahoor Khan

Players out: Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, Qadeer Ahmed

Players in: Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva, Waheed Ahmed

The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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Recent winners

2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)

2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)

2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)

2007 Grace Bijjani  (Mexico)

2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)

2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)

2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)

2011 Maria Farah (Canada)

2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)

2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)              

2014 Lia Saad  (UAE)

2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)

2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)

2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)

2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)

Indoor Cricket World Cup Dubai 2017

Venue Insportz, Dubai; Admission Free

Fixtures - Open Men 2pm: India v New Zealand, Malaysia v UAE, Singapore v South Africa, Sri Lanka v England; 8pm: Australia v Singapore, India v Sri Lanka, England v Malaysia, New Zealand v South Africa

Fixtures - Open Women Noon: New Zealand v England, UAE v Australia; 6pm: England v South Africa, New Zealand v Australia

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

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Russia's Muslim Heartlands

Dominic Rubin, Oxford

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Tickets

Tickets start at Dh100 for adults, while children can enter free on the opening day. For more information, visit www.mubadalawtc.com.

The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

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Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5